Dependencies of Agile Teams – An Analysis of the Scaled Agile Framework

Context: Agile teams are small teams with 3 to 9 members. In complex development endeavors such as systems engineering, an agile team has many dependencies, since it is not possible to incorporate all specialist skills into one team. Frameworks like the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) describe how agile teams operate in a larger setting. Objective: The aim of this study is to analyze how agile teams collaborate with their organizational environment. Method: We analyzed SAFe to investigate how much guidance it provides concerning the collaboration between agile teams and their environment. Results: The results show that many different organizational parts exist with which agile teams have to collaborate. SAFe mentions concepts like shared services, system teams, or business teams, but there is no further guidance on collaboration with the agile team. Conclusion: We motivate future research into guidelines for efficient collaboration of agile teams with their organizational environment.